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Backyard conservation

Surrounded by model manicured lawns in the Washington suburb of Columbia, Md., one lot has gone back to nature. As a result it has become a home for bluebirds, cardinals, butterflies, deer, foxes, raccoons, chipmunks and turtles. Between Fire Station 8 and a bank in a San Francisco warehouse area, a green grove of trees and shrubs attracts finches, hawks, hummingbirds and others seldom seen in the city's industrial neighborhood. Ten trees and a variety of bushes growing on a 30-ft. by 40-ft. backyard in Brooklyn have attracted 105 varieties of birds, including crow, red-bellied woodpecker and green heron.

The three oases, and some 1,700 others across the country, are certified participants in the Backyard Wildlife Program. Sponsored by the Washington-based National Wildlife Federation, the program aims at providing urban and suburban refuges for wildlife. Backyard habitats also benefit their human owners. Families become versed in natural lore, often increase the value of their property and save energy by staying home and watching the warblers. Membership is limited to those with three acres or less.

The program is not intended for armchair Audubons. To earn the coveted N.W.F. habitat certificate, an applicant must fill out a detailed questionnaire describing the facilities the yard provides: "seasonal menus for wildlife," natural and artificial cover, water for drinking and dunking, and other measures taken to attract furred and feathered friends. In addition, the owner is asked to list all the animals observed in the habitat during the previous year. In a letter to program applicants, N.W.F. Executive Vice President Thomas Kimball writes: "A nationwide network of these mini-refuges could demonstrate that people really can help wildlife win their battle with the bulldozer and continue to add beauty, excitement and health to the land."

The backyard conservationists often produce remarkable results in a tiny space. In Elgin, Ill., Derr and Peggi Andrlik's 140-ft. by 140-ft. lot is shared by 100 ducks, red foxes, squirrels, wood-chucks and a doe, as well as Pedro and Caspar, two pyrrhuloxias that have taken up residence 1,500 miles from their natural home in Mexico. A habitat in Thomasville, Ga., owned by the Robert Boissieres, abounds with shrubs, trees, vines, wild flowers and grasses; it has become a refuge for a wide variety of birds, including an occasional giant pileated woodpecker. Now that she has retired the lawnmower, says Habitat Hostess Ellen Mitchell of Reston, Va., "we're not afraid of anything now. We used to worry about crabgrass and dandelions, bugs and gnats. Now I know they're just part of the system."

Some habitat owners with older properties, like Jim Franks of Santa Cruz, Calif., leave all their fruit and berries for their wild guests--which may include such nonfriends as skunks and snakes. "What the hell," says one wildlife friend, paraphrasing Robert Frost: "The land was theirs before it was ours."

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